G-Sync – It Truly Is Grand

Over the past few months, media outlets and social media pages have been flush with coverage and commentary about the state's longest inland waterway, the Grand River. Of particular note, the Grand Rapids Press just concluded an extensive package of stories and photos of an expedition where intrepid travelers paddled the entire length of the river.

It's a rediscovery of sorts for us. Native American tribes first congregated around the shores of the Grand -- even burying their dead in high mounds along its riverbank. Early settlers staked out the village, which became a town, and finally a city. Then those who could afford it moved away from the Grand for a few decades, as it resembled more an open sewer than beautiful flowing river.

But now we are back.

I reveled in the news recently that Chris Muller and Chip Richards have gotten funding from the Downtown Development Authority and Founders Brewing Co. to see how the Grand can be reenergized as a kayaking and fishing attraction.

 And in an odd turn of events, those who can afford it are starting to live along the banks of the river again.

Grand Rapids is taking the same path as other world-class cities such as Cincinnati and Providence that have rediscovered their shorelines..

This could never be more clear than at the final presentation of the Green Grand Rapids commission to the public last year where the visioning process vetted that the people of this region not only want greater access to the water, they are also willing to get involved to make big waves.

If you weren't following it, you owe it to yourself to read some of Grand Rapids Press' wonderfully moving front-page stories about the Grand River,  which reminded us daily what a wonderful addition this mighty river truly is for our city.  To devote that much space to the subject clearly illustrated how the area's major newspaper values our city's primary natural asset.

So the next time you attend an event or are dining along the banks of the Grand River, think of this line from Walt Whitman: "Just as you are refresh'd by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refresh'd."

 
The Future Needs All of Us (to embrace & protect the Grand for the future)

Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
          

Email:  [email protected]
Twitter Feed: @TommyGSync

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Photo of Tommy provided by TanglefootStudio.com

Walt Whitman quote is from the poem Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.

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